Sunday, July 8, 2012

Syria:Maj-Gen Robert Mood of the UN observation mission to Syria says his mission will be consolidated and will reinforce presence into regional team sites, adding that the escalation of violence to an unprecedented level has obstructed his mission's ability to observe and assist in local dialogue.

In a meeting with reporters Thursday, Maj-Gen Robert Mood said the establishment of "regional team sites" aims to give the mission more flexibility to effectively work on facilitating political dialogue in Syria, once the mission resumes after being halted last month due to the escalating violence."We are consolidating the mission to enable better support to the Syrian people in the coming days," Mood said, adding that "we will reinforce our presence into regional team sites to give us, once our operations resume, the flexibility to effectively work on facilitating political dialogue and stability projects.""In the next week we will consolidate our 8 local team site locations into regional ones," Mood said, adding that "the mission will relocate personnel and assets from Hama, Idlib and Tartous to boost our presence in other locations."